Monday December 19, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Hey not too much time today and sorry I’m late emailing - just had a crazy schedule today. So...

1. Can you give me a firm ish time for our skype call coming up on Sunday!?

1. Umm I would say somewhere around 5 or later...but not too late so between 5 and 8 here time. Not Utah time.

2. Did you receive any packages this week? I sent the last of the fun Christmas stuff - cookies!

2.Yeah!!!! I got the cookies. Thank you sooo much! Made my week that much better. I’ll send pics.

3. We'd like to know what your rules are for Christmas. Can you play games with the members? Do you spend all day at one family's house?

3. Well I don’t know all the way yet. I’ll know on Wednesday. I don’t think we are allowed to play games. We can only go to set appointments which will be dinner and then another dinner...I’ll explain on Sunday.

4. Did you have more contact with your investigators this week or was it another week of meetings?

4. Yes! So we actually worked this week. We have had a lot of contact with Mike. He will probably get baptized the 31st. We are way excited for that! Pray for him to stop smoking!

5. Do we have any pictures of your Christmas tree & presents? Proof that you haven't opened them all yet?!

5. I’ll send them in one second.

Not too much time this week but it was cold snowy and long. We finally got our truck back from being worked on in Spokane.

oh! I found someone who used to live in Birdseye like forever ago and so that was weird. Of all places I found someone from Birdseye in Kamiah Idaho! Weird right?

This past Saturday we had an awesome Christmas activity called journey to Bethlehem. They take you around to different rooms and show different scenes of the nativity like the shepherds and the wise men and evil King Herod. It was super cool and a great missionary opportunity. Makes me miss Christmas at home when we do stuff like that.

Things are going really good. Still been settling in with my new companion and responsibilities, but things are going well and I’m getting used to doing missionary work a different way. This last Sunday they switched ward mission leaders on us so I’ve been dealing with that and helping him get used to his new calling so that’s been a little stressful.

Well I don’t have too much to say and there is a lot of red underlined words in this email but I don’t have the patience to right click on them all and fix them so good luck. Well love ya! And see you on Sunday!

-Elder St. John  

Monday December 12, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Hi there!

 

1. How's your new companion? Tell us about him and how things are going...

1. My new companion is good. His name is Elder Chamberlain and he is about my height and a ginger. He is awesome and so willing to work hard. He is from Saratoga Springs and was home schooled. We get along good and are excited to work together.

 

2. How was your first week of being district leader, a trainer, etc.? How are you feeling about the situation as a whole?

2. First week was good. A little overwhelming but good. I feel good about the situation and I’m excited to serve in different ways.

 

3. Any updates with investigators? 

3. Not too many updates this week just because of the crazy schedule we had. We spent maybe two days in our area so we didn’t get too much work done.

 

4. Did you get any packages from us this week? And perhaps take any pictures?

4. Yes I got the package with the pull up bar and Christmas tree. Sooo awesome! Thank you. Also got a big box with a bunch of presents in it and put them under the tree. I can’t wait to open them! It’s killing me not to peek at what they are. Also got a package from grandma and grandpa St. John. So I will email them a thank you.

 

This week has been crazy. Lots of driving and way too much confusion and meetings, but we were supper blessed to travel in safety the whole week. The meetings were good and I learned a lot. So really not too much to update you on.

 

But! I have the best member family ever (the Degroots) they bought me a coat! I know it was way too nice of them but they wouldn't take no for an answer and she loves to shop and spend money so they just got me one. It’s nice and warm. I’ll send a picture of it. maybe. But yeah not too much about this week. Elder Chamberlain is getting used the area so that is good. But yeah it’s snowy and wet so wish me luck.

Love ya!

 

-Elder St. John

 

Me (wearing my new coat) with Elder Chamberlain

Monday December 5, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Hi! 

1. I've been looking at the weather in your area and it seems like it's pretty cold. Are you sure you don't need a better coat/boots?

1.The weather hasn’t been too terrible. It’s been in the 50's mostly and drops lower in the night but not too bad. I’ll look for a better coat, but there’s not anywhere to buy one so I’ll let you know.

2. Did you get the gloves and hats?

2. I did...love them all. They’re very nice to have so thank you.

3. You have transfers today! Please make sure you tell us if you're staying or going. And if you're going I need your new address asap to send a few Christmas things...

3. So yeah transfers are a little crazy! Elder Stoddard is leaving. I’m staying here. They are making me the district leader and I will be training a new missionary as well. That might not sound crazy to you but I just finished my training and now I’m training so it’s crazy! I’m way excited for it though. It will bring some new adventures. So I’ll have to go up to Spokane on Tuesday and on Friday this week. So lots of traveling and meetings this week. 

4. How is your investigator Tyler doing? I liked hearing about him last week.

4. Tyler is doing good. He is still super solid and really searching and coming to church and wants to get baptized, but his church that he goes to right now is crazy. They are super anti and hate us. But he is freaked out by them because they follow him and watch him and stuff and have really weird rules so yeah he wants to leave. But he rents from a member there so he’s scared if he leaves that they will kick him out of his place and he’ll get treated badly. So yeah crazy stuff there. Pentecostal churches are weird.

Well my week was mostly normal and lots of running around. We had a temple trip on Thursday and that was way fun. But a lot of driving. The temple trip was with two ward members that drove us up. The temple is called the Spokane temple and it’s super small. Only one endowment room. 

Then we had zone training on Friday so more driving. Then transfers and that exciting news. I hope my new companion is cool. I really can’t believe they’re letting me train. I feel like a new missionary still and so it’s kinda weird.

Christmas time is coming! They put up a bunch of lights in our town and so that’s fun. I miss having our house all decorated and stuff. Nobody goes all out inside their house like we do, except for the Degroots. They have like 4 full sized Christmas trees in their house.

So for Christmas skyping we need to coordinate a time to do that. What time works best for your schedule on Sunday? Also it sounds like we have around 40 minutes to talk so keep that in mind. Well not much else to update you on. I’ll keep you posted about my new comp and things like that. Love ya!

-Elder St. John 

Monday November 28, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Hello

1. You had another baptism?! I don't think you've ever told us even about Arturo. What's his story? And you've been having quite the success as of late. Are the members giving you lots of help?

1. Well yeah I guess I never did tell you but he’s a 12-year-old kid. He was taken in with his 2 brothers by his grandma so there has been some tricky situation stuff with that but it all worked out and went very well. We also have 3 more people on date for baptism and they all seem really solid. I can promise you that the success has nothing to do with us. We are just doing our job as best we can. The members are the real missionaries here so yes they help us a ton!

2. How was your Thanksgiving? Tell us about your day and were you sure to be polite and thank the people who hosted you?

2. Thanksgiving was great. A little weird not being with family but still good. We went to Bishop Brazle’s house for a lunch and then the Degroot’s for dinner and of course I was polite! We weren’t supposed to go out and work so we had a lot of down time. And they wouldn’t let us play football so that was a little lame. But whatever.

3. The missionaries in our area spoke in our Sacrament meeting today and did a great job. Do you ever have to speak in Sacrament meetings?

3. That’s great! Yeah I’ve spoken once on faith and repentance so yeah not too hard. It’s not like we don’t talk about that stuff all day anyway.

4. One of the missionaries introduced the Light the World Christmas initiative to us. We've watched the video, it's awesome. What are your plans for this? Do you have special cards to hand out, do you get to do a nativity or something?

4. Yeah it’s pretty cool huh? We have been talking it up here and getting people to plan service. We have the wards looking for a bigger service project for the first of December. But then we can hand out special pass along cards and stuff so it’s fun.

So this week has been pretty cool. On Monday last week we got a text from Bro. Degroot. He had somebody for us to teach. His name is Tyler and he trains at the gym. He is way cool and the most interested guy I have ever talked to. He read the whole first book of Nephi in one day! Crazy right? So we have been teaching him. He came to church so that was a plus. So I’ll keep you updated on him.

The rest of this week has been pretty normal. Just working hard. It’s getting colder which is a bummer but I’ll live with it. Elder Stoddard’s finger is healing nicely. He can almost move it normally again. I’ve been missing playing soccer and running around lately. But yeah not too much to report on this week with Thanksgiving and all. People are busier than normal so they have an excuse to not meet with us. Well that’s about it! Love you guys! 

-Elder St. John

This is when we slid off the road in our truck. 

 Some weird buggy's. 

 Can you believe they have Pokémon monopoly!!!!!!

And we caught a spider. 

Monday November 21, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Questions from Mom in red...

1. How are you feeling? Did the stomach thing go away? How long did it take?
1. Feeling sooo much better and it only took about 3 days to go away, so all better.

2. Thanksgiving plans?

2. Planning on going to one of my bishops for Thanksgiving so that will be fun. Not too exciting (not really my favorite holiday anyway).

3. You have transfers coming up in a couple of weeks. How are you feeling about that?

3. I feel good about transfers. Elder Stoddard will probably leave because he’s been here for 6 months. I’ll keep you updated. I think it’s time for a change anyway.

4. There's a girl, April, at the bank that helps me all the time. She asked me this week if you were serving in Idaho. I told her yes and she says you're in her parent’s area. They are the Williams and live in Kooskie. Do you know of them? I guess they were telling her they had a missionary serving there from Spanish Fork and she recognized the last name.

4.Yeah! I’ve been meaning to ask you! Sis. Williams asked me to ask if you knew her. Yeah I know them. She loves missionaries and talks about her son constantly who is on a mission. I hope you’re not like that, but you probably are so that’s ok.

5. Are you allowed to wear beanie hats in the winter? Is it cold enough for that?

5. Yes I’m allowed to wear them. How did you know I was going to ask for one or two? But when you get them make sure they’re nice ones, not weird hand knit ones please.

So my week. Mostly a normal week but a little rough because I was sick. But all better now so the work will continue. So, funny story for the week was on Tuesday it was raining and we were out driving in the boons and pulled over to the side of the road and the road slid out from under us a little bit and we got stuck in a ditch. We called a member and he pulled us out. No damage to the truck thankfully! Turns out they had just worked on the road and it was raining so it was super soft and yeah it was kinda funny.

Anyway, had a baptism on Sunday! Arturo is his name. He’s 12 and super awesome. Had a good time with that and we’re working hard. Might be having a few more in the next month or so. So that will be fun. I’ll send pics.

I know God has a plan for me and being here on a mission is a big part of that plan. I have already seen the blessings to me and to others while I’ve been here. Sooo love ya!

(ps. gloves included in your next package would be much appreciated thank you. Also got your other package thanks!)

-Elder St. John

Monday November 14, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Well this week has been pretty normal.
Answers to questions…(questions were written by Colten’s younger sisters this week…)

1. Do a lot of people there own horses? If so, what's the rough estimate of how many horses each person has?

1. A few people do but not a ton so probably the same as in Utah or Spanish Fork. But there are a few.

2. Has it snowed there yet? Will it snow there or just be rainy?

2. It hasn’t snowed and I’ve heard that it’s kind of a banana belt here so I don’t know it will snow that much.

3. Do you know what your plans for Thanksgiving will be?

3. I have no idea what my plans for Thanksgiving are yet but I’ll let you know when I find out.

4. Are the people in your town generally shorter or taller than you?

4. What the? I don’t know, I’m not in a foreign country or some other planet. They’re just normal.

So this week has been a boring week which is kind of nice because we actually got to do some missionary work instead of meetings. The only thing is we had interviews and exchanges on Wednesday which was fun and we had some blessings come from that.

We had a lot of lessons this week with a guy named Mike. He’s a pretty cool guy and he is working through some hard stuff. If he can make the changes he wants, then he will be happy.

Sorry my email is short today. I got sick I think on Friday. We ate some bad chili that this person gave us and I don’t think it was very sanitary. We ate it to be nice and I of course got sick so my stomach has been hurting and such but I’ll get better so don’t worry. I’ll look for your package! Thanks. 

-Elder St. John

  This house has a flippin ton of cats. Like a lot.

 This is Elder Stoddard's finger.

Monday November 7, 2016 Kamiah, ID

Well hi! I’m glad you got my letter. They (the Cubs) won!? No way! That’s great!

1. Tell us more about Debbie's baptism. Who baptized her? Did you have to do a lot for in preparation for the baptism? Was it well attended by your ward?

1. A member named Bro. Gourley baptized her. He is her main member fellowship. We didn’t have to do too much. Our ward mission leader is awesome and he did most of the work. It was very well attended. She had a lot of friends come! It was way fun.

2. Did you really buy a coat for $21? That seems to be what your letter indicated. Tell me more.

2. Yes, really 21$. It’s not super thick or fancy but it will work for here. It’s just a plain black more like a jacket but it’s better than a jacket. It’s good though.

So my week was good. It flew by. Nothing major happened until Friday. We went to Lewiston for zone training and that was good. Had some big announcements. They are changing things so that we will have zone conference and interviews every transfer. Usually it’s every other. So that’s some bigger news for us missionaries. Also they announced the new Christmas initiative that will be coming out on Nov 25. It’s going to be way cool. I can’t tell you about it yet because its top secret and us missionaries just got a sneak peek into it. So be looking forward to that.

On Saturday we had another baptism for Jamie (the 16-year-old if you forgot). That went well. I’ll send pics of that. Then we went with our wml (ward mission leader) to a potential’s house and got confronted by a Native American kid who thought we were evil white people and got mad at us because we were "knocking doors" on an Indian rez. He was just bitter and mean so that was interesting. Hadn’t had that happen before.

We also started teaching a former Jehovah witness named James. He’s a pretty interesting guy and has had a weird religious background. He’s interested so that’s cool. On Sunday we had an awesome lesson with a kid named Arturo. He’s 12 and is living with a member family. The only reason he hasn’t been baptized yet was because he was going to move in with his brother, but now he’s not so we put him on date for the 26th of Nov. So that’s exciting too because we had been praying really hard for his living situation to change and it did! So that’s the power of prayer for you.

Well thanks for the update. The weather was a lot better this week. Lots more sunshine.

Well that’s all I got for ya!

-Elder St. John

This is Jamie. She looks not so happy because the water was cold.

 The kids are her family the Masons. They are awesome. Crazy but awesome.

Me standing next to a dead deer. Most people just have the head laying around, but these people had the whole body. Well most of it.